Guys, are the Royal portraitists OK? Earlier this year, King Charles startled the nation by unveiling his first official portrait since becoming monarch — and the result was a nightmare-inducing painting that seemed to have been swiped from the set of the latest Ghostbusters movie. Kudos to the artist who just painted Meghan Markle, though, as they’ve managed to go even further.
No doubt about it, painting King Charles surrounded by the flames of hell — an image so alarming protesters were compelled to improve it with Wallace and Gromit — was a bold choice. And yet it’s surely an even bolder one to paint Meghan Markle — famously the first senior member of the Royal family in modern history to be a person of color — and dub her “the White Queen.”
Meghan Markle’s official White Queen portrait, explained
Artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, who previously had the distinction of being the last person to paint the late Queen Elizabeth II, is launching a new collection of Royal portraits, titled The Reign, which will go on display at Burlington House in Mayfair on June 28. The USP of the collection is that it takes 10 contemporary Royals and reimagines them as historical figures from British history.
Meghan’s portrait, for instance, is titled “Returning White Queen” and likens her to Dame Elizabeth Grey, also known by her maiden name, Elizabeth Woodville. The wife of Edward IV, Elizabeth was a controversial choice for a Royal bride back during the War of the Roses of the 1400s as she was part of the rival House of Lancaster, whose symbol was the white rose, hence why she’s known as the White Queen.
“I thought putting Meghan in the role of the White Queen, who was a Queen Consort and possibly the most influential ‘outsider’ in royal history, might have a fine irony to it and not necessarily beyond the realms of reality,” Llywelyn Hall told BBC News when explaining his thinking.
Sadly, the artist neglected to explain why he painted Meghan with a blue skin tone, à la Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
The Duchess of Sussex’s husband, Prince Harry, meanwhile, is depicted in the collection as Bonnie Prince Charlie, aka Charles Edward Stuart, the Scottish prince from the 1700s remembered for his handsome looks and charming ways. Llywelyn Hall revealed to BBC News that he wanted to depict Harry before he met Meghan: “the young party-goer with his future very much in the balance.”
Any resemblance to Groundskeeper Willie is apparently purely coincidental.
